by political editor Paul Francis

pfrancis@thekmgroup.co.uk

The Conservatives have retained control at County Hall and are on course for a resounding victory at the county council election.

The party has now won 47 of the 84 seats being contested and have made major gains at Labour's expense. There is an outside chance that Labour could lose all its seats - it has yet to win a single seat of the 20 it is defending and has seen massive swings against it as the voters appeared determined to punish the Government for the allowances scandal.

They have even been ousted by a residents group in one north Kent division and have been pushed into fourth place by minority parties elsewhere in a dismal showing.

Among the Labour casualties are its deputy leader Derek Smyth in Ashford South and there are reports that the opposition leader Cllr Mike Eddy is also at risk.

The Liberal Democrats have retained three of their six seats and lost one on the results so far declared.

Click here to keep up to date with the results as they come in.